Investors Win Bid To Keep Casino Lawsuit In County

October 29, 1999|By Michael Higgins, Tribune Staff Writer.

Lake County investors who want to block plans for a new casino in Rosemont won an early round in their legal fight Thursday, when a Lake County judge agreed not to transfer their lawsuit against the Illinois Gaming Board to Cook County.

Judge John Goshgarian ruled that Lake County Riverboat L.P. can properly bring the suit in Lake County, noting that the investor group launched its casino plans in the county and filed its application from there.

State attorneys, representing the Gaming Board, had hoped to transfer the case to Cook County, where the Gaming Board meets and where last year it rejected Lake County Riverboat's request for a gambling license.

But Goshgarian said the basis for the group's lawsuit began when it sent off the application.

"Clearly, part of the transaction occurred at that point," Goshgarian said. "I think you have to look at it with a broad view, rather than a narrow view."

A spokeswoman for the Illinois attorney general's office said Thursday that state attorneys were disappointed in the ruling and that the Gaming Board was considering an appeal.

Lake County Riverboat wants Goshgarian to strike down the state's new gambling law, passed this year. The investor group says the law favors rival Emerald Casino Inc. so strongly that it constitutes special legislation in violation of the state Constitution.

If successful, the lawsuit could delay or kill Emerald Casino's plans for a casino in Rosemont. And because lawmakers chose to make the provisions of the gambling law inseverable, a finding of unconstitutionality also threatens provisions allowing lucrative dockside gambling at Illinois casinos, subsidies for the horse-racing industry and revenue sharing for local communities.

In recognition of the stakes, the Village of Rosemont asked Goshgarian on Thursday to allow it to intervene in the lawsuit.

William R. Quinlan, who is representing the village, said Rosemont had a right to protect its interest in seeing the casino plan go through. He said the village has provided space for the casino project, secured insurance to cover the contractors and has deals that entitle it to casino revenue.

"We think the state is doing a very good job," Quinlan said after the hearing, but Rosemont still wants the opportunity to argue on its own behalf.

Goshgarian did not rule on Rosemont's request. He will hold a hearing Nov. 18 on the issue.

Early next week, Assistant Attorneys General David Van de Burgt and Mary Nagel plan to file a motion to dismiss Lake County Riverboat's lawsuit. Goshgarian will hold a hearing Dec. 2 to consider that motion.

Also at issue is whether the Gaming Board should be allowed to act on Emerald Casino's request to set up shop in Rosemont while the litigation is pending. The board can't act because of to a 10-day temporary restraining order that Goshgarian has issued. But that expires Monday. The judge will hold a hearing then to consider whether to extend the order.

Attorneys for Lake County Riverboat hope to persuade the judge to grant a preliminary injunction, which would block the board from taking action in the matter until the litigation is resolved.